PORSCHE 911
An old family member throws interesting light on the new boy
Some might regard having two 3.0-litre Porsches in your life as one more than is actually required. Some poor souls might even say two more. For me, however, the contrasts between Porsche’s brand-new 911 and my decidedly ancient 968 Sport are fascinating.
Mechanically, they come from not just different eras but different concepts, too. If you remember both are 2+2 sporting coupés and there are 911s that predate the 968 by far more than this one post-dates it, it seems incredible that they both came from the same company. One has a normally aspirated in-line fourcylinder engine in its nose, the other a turbocharged flat six in its boot.
Nor is the 968 completely outdone by the new 911. Yes, it’s nowhere by any objective assessment, with the only possible exception of fuel consumption, but subjectively, it has better steering feel and a more exploitable, neutral chassis. Which I prefer driving depends entirely on the journey. For long trips, it’s the 911 every time, but for anything requiring much less than a 100-mile round trip, I’d choose the 968. Happily, and for now at least, I can do both.
While I mention fuel consumption, I recall press reports criticising the thirst of this 911’s engine and its fourcylinder derivation in the Cayman and Boxster. And when I first got the 911, I was a bit startled to see how hard it was to achieve 30mpg, particularly coming out of a BMW i8 that did 40mpg almost everywhere. But now, with more than 5000 miles on the clock, the position is transformed. On normal airport runs, it tends to do 34mpg and 40mpg is eminently possible without needing to hang out with the lorries in the inside lane. For a car capable of well over 180mph, I think that’s pretty reasonable.